Electrical circuit inspection systems are well known, and include INSPIRE-9060™ and SK-75™ automated optical inspection systems commercially available from Orbotech Ltd. of Yavne, Israel. These systems employ an illuminator illuminating a portion of an electrical circuit to be inspected, a conveyor conveying the electrical circuit so that the illuminated portion progressively illuminates successive portions thereof, and a line CCD sensor viewing the illuminated portion and outputting an image of the electrical circuit. Considerable effort has been made to provide inspection system architectures that increase the intensity and quantity of light that is effectively available to image electrical circuits undergoing automated optical inspection, and/or to improve the quality of images that may be acquired by scanner systems.